Fortis and lenis
In linguistics, fortis and lenisLatin for 'strong' and 'weak', respectively. are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc. "Fortis" and "lenis" were coined as less misleading terms to refer to consonantal contrasts in languages that don't employ actual vocal fold vibration in their "voiced" consonants but instead involved amounts of "articulatory strength." For example, Germanic languages like English, Dutch, and German have "fortis" consonants (as exhibited in come, komen, and kommen, respectively) that exhibit a longer stop closure and shorter preceding vowels than their "lenis" counterparts (as exhibited in grass, goal, and Gras). "Tense" and "lax" are also common alternatives. , pointing to as an example In many cases, the actual distinction is typically one of voice, length, aspiration, presence or absence of secondary articulation such as glottalization or velarization, differing length of nearby vowels, or some combination of such features. History Originally, the terms were used to refer to an impressionistic sense of strength differences, though more sophisticated instruments eventually gave the opportunity to search for the acoustic and articulatory signs. For example, tested whether articulatory strength could be detected by measuring the force of the contact between the articulators or of the peak pressure in the mouth. Because such studies initially found little to substantiate the terminology, phoneticians have largely ceased using them, though they are still commonly used as "phonological labels for specifying a dichotomy when used language-specifically." , citing , , and as examples. This can be useful when the actual articulatory features underlying the distinction are unknown or unimportant. Characteristics Later studies have shown that articulatory strength is not completely irrelevant. The articulators in the mouth can move with a greater velocity and/or with higher electromyographic activation levels of the relevant articulatory muscles with fortis consonants compared to lenis ones. Generally, voiceless stops have greater oral pressure than voiced ones, which could explain this greater articulatory energy. In Ewe, for example, the lips reach closure faster in articulating than in , making the lip closure longer. These differences in oral articulatory energy in consonants of different laryngeal settings is fairly widespread, though the correlation of energy and voicing is not universal. Indeed, a number of languages have been proposed as making strength differences independently of voicing, such as Tabasaran , Archi , UdiConsonant Systems of the Northeast Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICA, and Agul . "Fortis" and "lenis" have also been used to refer to contrasts of consonant duration in languages like Djauan, , cited in Ojibwe, , cited in Dalabon, Bininj Gun-wok, and Zürich German. The Zapotec languages are also considered to have contrast of length rather than of voicing. , cited in For example, in Mixe, lenis consonants are not only pronounced shorter than their fortis counterparts, but they're also prone to voicing in voiced environments, which fortis consonants aren't. This association with longer duration has prompted some to propose a diachronic link between fortis consonants and gemination.e.g. and . even proposes that gemination is itself a process of fortition in Italian. In English, use of the terms "fortis" and "lenis" is useful to refer to contrasts between consonants that have different phonetic attributes depending on context. The alveolar consonants and , for example: }|| rowspan=2|odder || rowspan=2|ɾ||rowspan=2|ɑɾɹ̩|| rowspan=2|otter |-align=center |ɾ || ɑɾɹ̩ |-align=center !colspan=2|Following s |t || stɑp̚ || stop || t || stɑp̚ || stop |} : Depending on dialect, and may not neutralize with intervocalic alveolar flapping, with the contrast manifesting itself in the preceding vowel’s duration. : the distinction between and is lost after As the table above shows, no one feature is adequate to accurately reflect the contrasts in all contexts. Word-initially, the contrast has more to do with aspiration; is aspirated and is an unaspirated voiceless stop. In the syllable coda, however, is instead pronounced with glottalization, unrelease, and a shorter vowel while remains voiceless. In this way, the terms fortis and lenis are convenient in discussing English phonology, even if they are phonetically imprecise. It is rare for the use of greater respiratory energy for segments to occur in a language, though some examples do exist, such as Korean, which makes a three way contrast amongst most of its obstruents with voiceless, aspirated, and a third faucalized voiced set that involves both an increase in subglottal pressure as well as greater glottal constriction and tenseness in the walls of the vocal tract. Igbo has also been observed to utilize an increase in subglottal pressure involving its aspirated consonants. In southern German dialects, the actual distinction underlying obstruent pairs varies somewhat depending on the dialect, but is often one of length—fortis sounds are pronounced geminated in all positions in a word, even at the end of a word or before other consonants. Many North Caucasian languages (Northwest and especially Northeast) have a consonantal distinction described as "strong" or "preruptive" that has concomitant length. Akhvakh and other Northeast Caucasian languages even possess a distinction between strong/long and weak/short ejective consonants: ('soup') vs. ('cock's comb') translated in describes the fortis consonants for Archi: "Strong phonemes are characterized by the intensiveness (tension) of the articulation. The intensity of the pronunciation leads to a natural lengthening of the duration of the sound, and that is why strong consonants differ from weak ones by greater length. However, the adjoining of two single weak sounds does not produce a strong one … Thus, the gemination of a sound does not by itself create its tension." Fortis stops in Australian languages such as Rembarrnga also involve length, with short consonants having weak contact and intermittent voicing, and long consonants having full closure, a more powerful release burst, and no voicing. It is not clear if strength makes the consonants long, or if during long consonants there is a greater opportunity for full articulation. Articulatory strength can reinforce other distinctions. The Ewe language, for example, which contrasts a voiceless bilabial fricative and a voiceless labiodental fricative , pronounces the latter markedly more strongly than in most languages. This helps differentiate what would otherwise be a very subtle distinction. Notation The IPA provides no specific means for representation of a fortis-lenis contrast. Only the Extensions to the IPA provide a diacritic for strong articulation (e.g. ) and weak articulation ( ). Different ways of transcribing the fortis-lenis contrast have been used. For instance, for the transcription of the Zürich German fortis-lenis contrast, notations such as the following ones have appeared in the relevant literature: *The fortis-lenis contrast may be transcribed with plain vs. , even though this is in contradiction to their IPA definition that relies solely on voice. *The fortis-lenis contrast may be transcribed as a gemination contrast ( or vs. ). *The fortis-lenis contrast may be transcribed as vs. , that is, the lenes are marked with the IPA diacritic for voicelessness. By strict IPA definition, this appears contradictory because if p and b differ but in their voicedness, then a that is voiceless should be identical to a p. This notation emphasizes that there is more than just voice to the contrast between vs. . See also * Irish phonology * Tenseness References Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * External links *fortis and lenis Category:Phonology Category:Latin adjectives in current use als:Fortis und Lenis br:Fortis ha lenis de:Fortis ko:경음과 연음 fi:Fortis ja lenis